Chapter 274 - 135: Black Mountain’s Arrival

Chapter 274: Chapter 135: Black Mountain’s Arrival

"An illusion!?"

Jiang Mu’s heart lurched. He instinctively began to circulate the Cold Moon Ice Heart Skill.

BZZZT—

The space around him rippled like the surface of water, twisting and folding like wind-blown silk.

But when the ripples faded, the scene before him remained.

The heartless version of "himself" was still standing there, smiling eerily.

Jiang Mu’s brow furrowed. He brought two fingers together and quickly tapped the spot between his eyebrows.

He was trying to forcibly separate his consciousness from his body and enter Shangguan Luoxue’s Grotto Heaven Dao Mansion to drink the [Stream-Under-the-Gorge Water] and break the illusion.

But...

It was no use!

His fingers touched his brow, but his consciousness was locked firmly inside his body, unable to escape.

’A dream?’

Jiang Mu realized.

He must be dreaming right now.

And an enemy had infiltrated his dream, creating this realistic, illusory cage.

Inside this dream, he couldn’t separate from his consciousness.

"Enough with your cheap tricks!"

Without further hesitation, Jiang Mu drew his blade and slashed.

The flash of his blade was like snow as it cleaved his "self" in two.

But eerily, the bisected body didn’t fall. Instead, it wriggled and merged like liquid, reforming in the blink of an eye.

The hollow where its heart had been gouged out remained empty.

But its smile grew even more chilling.

Jiang Mu attacked again and again, the light from his blade forming a net that diced his opponent into pieces.

But within a few breaths, the pieces reassembled themselves, leaving the figure standing there, completely unharmed, with only the hole in its chest remaining.

Jiang Mu stopped and stared coldly at his opponent.

"Who exactly are you?"

He was reminded of the Nightmare Demon he had encountered at the Han Mansion. It had been strange, but dealing with it had been a matter of just a few slashes.

But this one...

It gave him a sense of unfathomable depth.

To be able to invade his dream without him noticing and even lock down his consciousness—this was definitely a master.

"Jiang Mu."

The other "Jiang Mu" finally spoke.

Its voice was identical to Jiang Mu’s own in tone and cadence, but it was tinged with a chilling coldness.

"Do you think... all the Demon Fiends in this world can be exterminated?"

Jiang Mu stared at him and said flatly,

"Whether they can be exterminated isn’t for me to decide. Besides, I never said I wanted to kill every Demon Fiend under the heavens.

Not all Demons deserve to die, and not all humans deserve to live. Good and evil reside in the heart, not the flesh."

The man opposite him curled his lips into a stiff smile.

"You are a rare talent. Staying in the Demon-slaying Bureau... is a waste of your abilities."

He slowly raised his head to gaze at the cold, lonely moon in the sky, his voice growing somewhat ethereal.

"The path of the Demon-slaying Bureau seems bright, but its end is a bottomless abyss. Stay on it long enough, and you will gradually lose your true self, eventually... becoming what you see before you now."

He pointed to his own empty chest.

Jiang Mu’s heart skipped a beat.

He narrowed his eyes and asked tentatively,

"Yuan Qianfan?"

The man opposite him neither confirmed nor denied it.

He just gazed quietly at the moon for a long moment before sighing softly.

"Everyone thinks there is only one path, that you must always press forward, even if you beat your head bloody against a wall and can’t turn back.

But they don’t realize that while the sea of suffering is boundless, the shore is just a step behind you.

Sometimes, turning back... is another heavenly path to the Great Dao."

Jiang Mu smiled.

"Anyone can spout grand principles, but I don’t understand what you’re trying to say. I just want to know, are you... moving forward, or have you turned back?"

The man opposite him fell silent.

After a long while, he gave Jiang Mu a deep look, and his figure began to fade.

"I won’t kill you. At least, not for now.

I admire you very much. Perhaps... in the near future, you will become just like me."

As his voice faded, the heartless "Jiang Mu" vanished completely into thin air.

"Hah!"

Jiang Mu’s eyes flew open, and he shot up in bed.

He found himself still in the simple little hut. Outside the window, the moon was bright, and the chirping of insects filled the air.

He pinched his thigh hard.

HISS!

’It really hurts.’

Jiang Mu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself, "Was that really Yuan Qianfan?"

That mysterious person who could so easily invade his dreams, only to inexplicably give him a "lecture," was truly terrifying.

That level of power, that tone of voice...

Besides that unfathomable Garrison Envoy, he couldn’t think of a second person it could be.

’But what did his words even mean?’

"Old Jiang!"

Xu Fu’s urgent shout from outside the door shattered Jiang Mu’s train of thought.

"Coming!"

Jiang Mu called back, got out of bed, and opened the door.

Xu Fu was standing at the entrance, yawning. "Hurry up," he said, looking exhausted. "Elder Tian is back and wants to see you. It’s urgent."

Jiang Mu nodded, splashed some water on his face to wake himself up, and followed Xu Fu to the main house.

Inside the house.

Tian Wenjing was seated, holding a cup of tea. His brow was furrowed, and his face was etched with exhaustion.

Yan Fenghuo and several other Hall Masters were also standing by, their expressions solemn.

Seeing Jiang Mu enter, Tian Wenjing put down his teacup, looked up, and said in a grave voice,

"Everyone’s here. I have some bad news for you."

"We’ve received reliable intelligence.

The Demon Race is gathering a massive army. In perhaps seven or eight days, they will launch an all-out assault on Yan City!"

"How many Demons?" Jiang Mu asked.

Tian Wenjing held up three fingers. "At least thirty thousand."

HISS—

A series of sharp intakes of breath sounded throughout the room.

Thirty thousand?!

The number was simply horrifying.

Back in Black Wind Valley, just five hundred Demons had been enough to make even a tough guy like Yan Fenghuo feel despair.

And now there were thirty thousand?

Were they going to slaughter the entire city?!

Xu Fu swallowed hard and said hoarsely,

"Elder Tian, isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? Where did thirty thousand Demons even come from?

Could it be another one of those low-level races that reproduces like crazy, like the Earth Ghost Demons, just pumping out a litter of trash to boost their numbers?

If that’s the case, we might not have to worry too much..."

Tian Wenjing shook his head, shattering his wishful thinking.

"No, this time is different.

According to our intelligence, this Demon Army of thirty thousand not only includes a massive number of low-tier Demons but also countless mid- and high-tier ones!

There are even several Tier Seven and Tier Eight Great Demons among them!"

Elder Tian paused, then continued,

"We’ve already formulated an emergency plan.

We intend to establish two lines of defense.

The first line of defense will be set up outside the city, in the areas managed by our various halls. We’ll use the terrain to lay down a large number of Talisman traps and Arrays to deplete the Demon Army’s effective strength as much as possible.

The second line of defense will be within the city itself."